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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The days of nursery organizing are long over for me, but it is something that I know many of you have asked about. A good setup is so important because life is already crazy enough when baby arrives, and being flustered and not being able to find things like, "right now" only can add to any stresses that come from adjusting to a whole new life. Today's reader totally rocked her nursery. It's seriously the happiest place on earth....

Nadia wrote:

Hi Jen!

First let me tell you that your blog is a source of endless inspiration. I too, love organization.

I wanted to share my baby's nursery and closet. I've been looking for before pictures but couldn't find any. Let's just say that the before shot was a typical closet with a single rod and shelf on top, leaving a lot of wasted space at the bottom.

When planning my baby's nursery, I knew that the closet was going to be an important part of it. I wanted to maximize the space we had, assign a place for everything and make it look pretty. My first step was color. The nursery has yellow and grey walls, so I painted the whole closet the same yellow.

Now for storage. I first was set on have an Elfa system customized to my specifications, but after seeing the price tag I reconsidered. I did a little more research and found something similar, IKEA's Antonius system. After checking the closet measurements and their pieces, I knew it was going to work. My husband installed everything. He had to cut some of the shelves to fit the closet but it all worked out. I got a lot of baskets in different colors and sizes and, going a little further I created some closest dividers to organize my baby's clothes. Once everything was put together I just couldn't be happier! It turned out much better than I expected.

I also wanted to keep things organized in the changing table, so I bought these compartments, that fit {4 of them} perfectly in the drawers.

Against all odds {people telling me it'll be impossible to maintain a nursery organized with a newborn} the closet, or for that matter the nursery looks just like the pictures most of the time. Of course, from time to time you'll see boxes of diapers at the bottom of the closet, clothes on the bed and toys all over the rug, but in 5-10 minutes I can tidy everything up. This has been a life-saver since I really enjoy being in this room. Even with my little one is crying...

Hope you like it!

Nadia

"Like" is absolutely and understatement! I am getting baby fever just oohing and ahhing over the beautiful and orderly space!

Check it out!

The entire space is just warm and cozy and the colors are simply divine!

I adore the attention to detail!

My favorite part of checking out any space, is peeking behind closet doors and inside drawers!

The changing station setup is fantastic!

Simply sweet!

The whole things is fantastic, what's not to love? Her attention to detail is amazing.

Can you see this room down the road? Some simple changes and it's still a room that can grow with baby!

She painted the inside of the closet a coordinating color. How pretty is that yellow popping through?!

When her dreamy Elfa system prices were too high to handle, she found a comparable option that looks equally as great, on a tighter budget.

Speaking of closet, look at all of that STORAGE! It's not just a simple rod with a shelf above it. It has room for rows and rows of hanging, drawers, shelves for baskets, oh my! It's amazing the storage expansion you get from a system vs. typical closet setup.

The baskets in the closet are a great way to reduce a lot of the visual clutter that typically comes with all of the things that come with a baby. That's right, babies are "thing" hoarders and it's amazing the amount of gear that you will find yourself looking to store {and conceal}.

She organized the clothes by size and gave herself a simple system to be able to maintain it. Those little dividers are just fabulous!

The drawer dividers from IKEA were a great solution to separating many of the smaller baby items, such as socks, bibs and onesies. The placement of those items right at the changing table will also help her in a pinch.

A special THANK YOU to Nadia {you can find her blog here} for taking a moment to write and share her {and baby's} beautifully organized nursery.

What other nursery organizing tips got you through the baby days with a giant smile? If you could give new mamas any single super solution, what would it be?

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LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!! What an awesome job and all the details are right on. You can tell that some thought and hard work went into this room. And, is it me, or does room make you smile when you look at it? :)

Hi Lauren, honestly I didn't notice the hangers backwards when I took the pictures. At that time my mom helped me set up the room, so probably it was her. I checked and now we have the hanges the "usual" way.

Hangers backwards is actually an approach I use in my own closet. I hang everything backwards, it goes in normally after it's been washed/worn. Then after a few months I make it a point to look at my closet and see what is still backwards on the hanger. Those are the first items to get purged out of the closet because I don't use them.

I am stunned by this, seriously! I did a double take when I saw the photo. This room belongs in a magazine! I would never think that the stripes on one wall, and gray on the others would work, but this is amazing. I think she should start a decorating business pronto.

This room had me at yellow and gray! I agree the attention to detail is wonderful in this room. Just seeing all the tubs holding the beautiful baby clothes in the drawer made me giddy! Amazing job and wonderful balance of the colors throughout the room!

Jen, I keep coming back to Becky's dining room/living room makeover. We are trying to figure out what to do with our dining room. We have a chair rail and a birch table and furniture though. Do you think if we painted the top of the wall that blue, it would look good with white on the bottom? Or should we do a lighter blue on top and that blue on bottom? I would love your opinion, because you have such a good eye for this stuff!

I think a white on the bottom would look lovely with the color I used in Becky's dining room. My only concern is it may be a challenge to keep clean, I haven't braved white walls yet so I don't know for sure.

If you are doing two colors, I would stick with a darker color on the lower half and the lighter on the top {with the exception of doing the white on the lower, I think that could be really pretty. I also don't think it's all that bad to paint below and above a chair rail the same color.

How silly of me! It never dawned on me to put a hook on the back of the nursery door for our diaper bags (Daddy has his own). Such a simple but genius idea! Love the whole setup and decor is amazing! Kudos to Nadia! :)

Is it wrong of me to admit complete depression and jealousy? Soo perfect and gorgeous!

But I was on bedrest while we moved and had twins and when you do AP with health issues (mine, my girls are active and into everything as ever!!), you don't get to decorate like you expected. So I'll console myself with this fact as I go weep (not really, now I'm just making a joke). Amazing job!

"If you could give new mamas any single super solution, what would it be?" The one thing I would say, is that you don't actually need half the stuff you're lead to believe you need. :) Especially in the lotions and potions dept and the single-use items dept.

OMGoodness this nursery is adorable! I so need to do something in my sons closet (5months old). How long is your cloths rod. My closet has bifold doors and kind od small. I wasnt sure how long to make the cloths rod. Also whete did you get the month cloths dividers? That would be wonderful to have. I have all my extra cloths boxed away and im aways pulling them out to see what i have. Thanks so much!!

Wow! What else can I say? I've been looking for ideas on how to re-organize my youngest son's closet. After two years of organized clutter, I'm ripping it apart, simplifying it and drawing inspiration from this post. Thank you Jen!! Your blog is one of my favorites to follow and I know I speak for a lot of moms out there when I say Thank You for your contributions :)

The use of colors are the others have said is awesome. I absolutely love two things about this nursery room. How you didn't let the cost of a more expensive closet system stop you from finding what works for you. Thank God for handy husbands. What I also adore is that you kept a bed in the room beside the crib. My kids were just sick and as I made a makeshift bed for myself on the floor of their room I thought, why don't I have at least a stow away bed in here? This inspires me to see about making that change pronto!

IHeart you taking a moment to comment! Although I absolutely appreciate, consider and read each and every comment, I will remove any comment that I believe to be inappropriate, malicious or spam like. This blog is my happy place, let's keep the drama at bay!

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